West Contra Costa school district to form parent advisory committee

RICHMOND -- The West Contra Costa school district is forming a parent advisory committee to help it develop an accountability plan, as required by the state under its new funding formula.

The district is inviting other citizen advisory committees and community groups to nominate parents with children in the district to serve on the committee, along with parent representatives from the United Teachers of Richmond and other employee unions.

The district plans to use its new strategic plan, adopted in November, as the basis for the accountability plan, which is designed to assure the state that the money districts receive under the so-called Local Control Funding Formula will be spent according to state guidelines.

The strategic plan aims to create higher goals and expectations for students, improve accountability for student success, provide better support for teachers, and introduce innovative technology into the classroom, among other objectives.

"We have done a lot of the preliminary work with the strategic plan to meet the state requirements," Trustee Todd Groves said.

The funding formula was proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown and passed by the Legislature last year. It promises to increase funding dramatically to school districts such as West Contra Costa with high percentages of students from low-income families and students learning English.

Advertisement

It could augment West Contra Costa's $180 million annual budget by $100 million a year by 2022, according to district estimates, enabling it to accomplish the goals in the strategic plan.

The final accountability plan is due June 25, the same date trustees are scheduled to give final approval to the district's 2014-15 budget.

West Contra Costa will conduct six community meetings over the next month to inform parents, employees and community members about opportunities under the funding formula and the requirements of the accountability plan.

Meetings will begin at 6:30 p.m. and end about 8 p.m.

Meeting locations and dates:

El Cerrito High School, Jan. 15.

Ford Elementary School, Jan. 16.

Pinole Middle School, Jan. 21.

DeJean Middle School, Jan. 28.

De Anza High School, Jan. 30.

Hercules Middle School, Feb. 6.

At Wednesday's meeting, trustees also heard about a plan to eliminate TB tests and streamline fingerprinting for parents and other community members who want to volunteer in district schools. West Contra Costa has about 6,000 volunteers working with students in its more than 50 schools.